India has asked the World Health Organisation to explain media reports that the A (H1N1) influenza is a false pandemic.
Making an intervention at the WHO Executive Board meeting, now on in Geneva, Union Health and Family Welfare Secretary K. Sujatha Rao said such reports were adversely impacting the public health measures being taken by countries.
She called for greater transparency in the terms and conditions on which international manufacturers were supplying vaccines to countries.
Following India’s intervention, it was agreed that the WHO would formally write to national focal points in all countries, clarifying the factual position about the pandemic.
Commenting on the WHO’s report on the progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals, Ms. Rao urged the WHO to promote generic drugs to spread rational drug use. Only the WHO had the credibility to withstand the persuasive power of branded and patent drugs.
Ms. Rao also urged all countries to promote access to medicines and not to confuse the issue of counterfeits, which was an Intellectual Property Rights issue, with safe and efficacious generic drugs.